Liquid thickening/stabilizing techniques are industrially very important. For example, thickening/stabilizing of aqueous components in metastable emulsions, such as mayonnaise and salad dressing, allows the metastable emulsions to maintain their emulsion states stably over a long time.
For the thickening/stabilizing, various thickening/stabilizing agents have been developed. Typically, hydrophilic thickening/stabilizing agents are compounds that thicken and/or stabilize aqueous media (aqueous vehicles) and known typically as alkyl acrylate copolymers.
In contrast, thickening/stabilizing agents for fluid organic materials are known typically as 12-hydroxystearic acid (e.g., Patent Literature (PTL) 1). The term “fluid organic material” refers to an organic material having fluidity, such as an oily medium. 12-hydroxystearic acid is utilized mainly in waste disposal of edible oils while using the gelling action thereof. However, 12-hydroxystearic acid fails to give a degree of gelation as adjusted, and can only induce the material into either one of a completely solidified state and a liquid state as intact. Specifically, there has not yet been found a compound that thickens and/or gels a fluid organic material to a desired viscosity.